


promise me our forever (another chance)

by tyzvlas



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-24
Updated: 2020-07-24
Packaged: 2021-03-05 06:34:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,665
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25480009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tyzvlas/pseuds/tyzvlas
Summary: Katara was slipping away. She felt Zuko hold on tighter. “Promise...promise you’ll find me again  When we pass into the next world...whatever comes after this, please, promise that you’ll find me. Give us another chance. A do over, please Zuko.”
Relationships: Katara/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 59





	promise me our forever (another chance)

Katara stared off into the mist that blanketed the grassy field laid out before her. It was so serene that she had almost forgotten where she was just minutes before; alive in the real world, clutching onto the man that she had let go of in her lifetime. She looked down at her hand; the wrinkled skin from years of hard work were gone, her fingernails were healthy and long, her clothes were those of what she wore on the night she let him go for the first time. She was getting a do over. 

Katara closed her eyes and saw herself back there on that night. It was a fire nation celebration, fire lord Zuko had invited Katara and her husband to be with him. Katara had been a few weeks along her first pregnancy at that point, her little Bumi. She had worn a dress of brilliant blue, and had danced the night away with her closest friends, until all that remained was her and Zuko sat atop a roof. She remembered leaning her head on his shoulder and holding his hand, her fingers intricately laced between his, holding tightly as if she loosened her grip, he would fade away into dust. There was nothing about this that struck her as out of place at the time, they were best friends after all. “Aang and I are expecting,” she had told him. She remembered him looking at her with shock, almost twisted into displeasure, but smiling softly and letting go of her hand to clutch her face. 

“Congratulations,” he had said. “You’ll be great parents.” She remembered their breath catching in each of their chests, a moment that only lasted a second feeling like a lifetime. Words left unsaid, whispers in the back of her mind itching to come out, wouldn’t make their way to her lips, but Zuko did. He kissed her softly, and she returned it, the hunger that had been building up for six years finally consuming her as she pressed against him on that rooftop. But she had pulled away. Like every other moment they shared together, she had pulled away. 

“I should be leaving,” she had scolded, half telling herself. A pit grew in her heart that night, one that had never truly gone away. She had chosen Aang. She had to be with Aang. But in her heart, in the deepest facets of her feelings, she knew that she would never truly be satisfied. She would always yearn for Zuko, no matter how good a husband Aang was to her. The guilt ate away at her constantly, it left her broken and twisted and shattered, until they met again. 

She opened her eyes to see the sun clearing away the mist on the grassy field. She saw Sokka there, and reached out for him, tears clouding her vision. But once her hand touched him, her eyes were forced shut once again, and she was brought back to a night in the city, just after Aang’s statue was uncovered. She was forty then, her children almost old enough to be on their own. Zuko was there with her, just Zuko. 

“You seem happy,” he said after a while. 

Katara looked back at him and blushed. “I suppose I am. More than last year. How is Izumi?”

Zuko chuckled. “You know teenagers. She’s having her rebel phase.”

“She sounds just like you,” Katara added. 

“She misses her aunt Katara.” 

Katara pushed a strand of hair behind her ear. “She barely knows me.” 

“Well, whose fault is that?” 

“Not this again.” Katara turned away. 

“I want you to be in her life, Katara.” Zuko half chased after her. 

A lump formed at the back of Katara’s throat, crushing her windpipe, making it hard to speak without sobbing. “We already agreed...it’s too hard. We said so all those years ago, why change it now?” 

Zuko rubbed his beard. “I dreamed of you before coming here. I dreamed of that night of the rooftop of the palace.” He sat down on a bench and buried his face in his hands. “I just can’t help thinking that if you weren’t pregnant then, I would’ve told you everything, and we could’ve been together. I don't know, I’m rambling. You know I’ve never been good with this stuff.” 

Katara slid in next to him and placed a comforting hand on his back. She wanted to admit that he was right. She wanted to tell him that she had felt the same way all these years, but she couldn’t. She couldn’t do that to Aang. “We were kids, Zuko. We were confused and lost.” 

Katara opened her eyes again, and Sokka was with her this time. “What...what just happened?” She asked, noticing that she looked fourteen again, in her water tribe clothes with her mother’s necklace on. 

Sokka smiled at her. “Just calm down. Your mind is playing your deepest regrets right now, it’ll be over soon.” 

Katara took a deep breath and closed her eyes again. She was back at the agni kai, just after she had tied Azula down with chains. She was kneeling over Zuko, his hand gently wrapped around her, her fingers wrapped through his messy hair. She brought her hands to his burning chest, which was still hot to the touch as she placed her healing water over his wound. When she saw that he was okay, when she saw that breath of air that he took for the first time, she wanted to kiss him. She thought that she should. She was confused and happy and all she wanted to do was wrap herself in him tightly and never let go, but she didn’t. She just cried, and their kiss would have to wait another six years. 

Katara opened her eyes again. “These...they’re my deepest regrets?” She asked her brother. 

“Yes. I saw Yue and Suki’s deaths, and mom’s.” His head hung from his shoulders as he let out the last word. “But they’re all here now. Once you’re done going through yours, I’ll take you to them.” 

Katara, now wearing the bright green dress she wore the day she chose Aang, hugged her brother, then closed her eyes again, being brought back to the day in the tea shop. 

Katara forced her eyes open for just a second. “Are you positive these are my biggest regrets?” She asked her brother, desperately clinging onto him as though if she let go for just a second, she’d dissipate into thin air and be gone forever. 

“Why? Are they strange to you?” 

Katara swallowed. “They all...they’re all about Zuko,” she admitted. 

Sokka looked taken aback. “Zuko?”

Katara sighed deeply. “Yes, Zuko. It’s taking me back to all the moments...the unsaid words...the whispers…”

Sokka put his hand on Katara’s shoulder. “Did you love him?” 

Before she could answer, she closed her eyes again. She was at the tea shop, approaching Aang again. Every muscle in her body kept moving forward, no matter how much her mind screamed at her to stop.  _ Stop. Don’t walk any more. Go back to Zuko, tell him you love him. _ But she didn’t listen to her heart. Instead, she kept walking, hugged Aang, and put her biggest smile on. She kissed him that day, though she couldn’t remember feeling the butterflies, like the ones when she held Zuko in her arms at their healing sessions after the battle. Her face wasn’t warm the way it was when she held her hands to Zuko’s chest. Her mind wasn’t spellbindingly numb, in fact, there were a thousand thoughts shooting through her every second. But she still kissed Aang, and never told him of her true feelings. 

She was brought back to Sokka. “Are you going to answer the question now?” He asked. 

“No. I still have more to do.” She closed her eyes once more. 

They were in a room down a small corridor, alone, in the fire palace, Katara’s hands placed gently over Zuko’s chest with her healing water ready. “It's getting late,” Zuko said, looking out the blackened window. 

Katara smiled and brushed a stray piece of hair from Zuko’s face. “I should probably be getting back to the ship,” she said, wiping her hands down and packing up her supplies. Just before she left, Zuko grabbed her hand, sending shockwaves through her body. 

“It’s too late for you to go out alone.” He was right, Katara knew. “Just stay here for the night.”

Katara bit her lip. It was dark out, she didn’t want to walk all the way back to the harbor and to her father’s ship to sleep. But at the same time, did she want to stay the night with Zuko? No, that’s a dumb question, of course she did, but could she? Her mind whirled as she tried to bring a word to her lips. The firelord had offered her a place to stay for the night, who was she to refuse? But Zuko wasn’t just the firelord. He was her friend, her confidant, her ally. She thought of a thousand reasons to stay, and a thousand more to go. If she stayed, would this be it? Could she finally be true to herself and tell him how she felt? But if she left...she wouldn’t have to talk. She wouldn’t have to open up, and that seemed all the more safe to her. “Zuko, I’ll be alright,” she smiled, moving his thin blanket back over his chest, going slowly, trying to savor the moment. 

She should’ve stayed. 

“How many more do I have to go through?” Katara asked her brother. 

He smiled at her. “It looks like just one more.” 

Her eyes once again fluttered shut, and she was brought to her deathbed. She was there just minutes ago, but for some reason it felt like a lifetime ago. Zuko and Toph were there, holding her hands. 

Toph was smiling at her. “You can let go Katara,” the blind woman told her. “It’s okay. We’re here.” Toph’s thumb ran over Katara’s knuckles. She felt comforted by her, but not so much as Zuko. He held her hand with both of his, and murmured a prayer. 

Zuko shot a glare at Toph. “Don’t say that. She’s going to be okay, she  _ has _ to be okay.” Katara smiled at Zuko. 

“Zuko, everyone has their time,” she told him, holding onto his cheek. “We can do better in our next lifetime. We can try again.” Katara didn’t need to say what she meant. He knew. The words unspoken between them, the fleeting kiss so many years ago, everything led up to this moment. 

She saw a tear fall from Zuko’s eye. “I don’t want to do this without you,” he choked out. 

Katara was slipping away. She felt Zuko hold on tighter. “Promise...promise you’ll find me again When we pass into the next world...whatever comes after this, please, promise that you’ll find me. Give us another chance. A do over, please Zuko.” 

Zuko cried out, his tears falling on the blanket wrapped around Katara. 

“Promise,” she said once more, before slipping away forever.

  
  


###

  
  


Zuko clutched her hand as her eyes glossed over and her mouth opened just slightly. Toph tried to push him away, but he wouldn’t look away from her. Even after all these years, she was still so beautiful. He felt her pulse fade into nothing, and his heart stopped when Toph said, “she’s gone.” 

_ Gone _ . She couldn’t be gone. There was still so much he had to say to her, still so many things they had to do together. He imagined what life might be like if they had just told each other how they felt, if they had admitted to their feelings long ago. He’d imagined her as a feisty water tribe general, or a political ambassador, meeting him in secret corridors where they could let their passion free, but it was just an imagination. He’d never had the guts to tell her how he felt, and once he did, it was too late; she had chosen Aang. 

But without Katara now, what was the point of living?  _ Izumi _ , he thought.  _ And Iroh II. I need to stay for them _ . But he still felt lost. There was no chance of them being together, ever now that she’s gone. He hung onto every word she had said before slipping away. 

_ Promise _ . 

The years passed by in a haze, and Zuko grew older and older. At some point, he asked himself why he was still living. Did the spirits wish to spite him? Was it a punishment for lying to himself all these years? He just...couldn’t seem to die. Even on his deathbed he prayed death would come soon. He masochistically wished for an end to everything, but at the same time was afraid to embrace the void, in case if there was nothing after death, all his memories of Katara would be gone. 

_ Promise _ . 

Her words were on his mind again. It had been at least a year since he thought of them. 

_ Promise _ ,

Katara’s last word,

_ Promise _ . 

Her hoarse voice rang through his ears now, spinning through his skull in whispers. 

_ Promise _ . 

What was he supposed to promise? What was it? He could barely remember his own name, but that word still rang through his mind, hitting into every corner as if it was a ball bouncing around a windowless room. 

_ Promise _ . 

He couldn’t even picture her face anymore. He couldn’t picture his own. 

_ Promise _ . 

He felt for his scar. It was still there, he was still alive. He saw his daughter’s blurry face pass over him, a look of concern in her eyes, shouting from a doctor…

_ Promise _ . 

The white light came at last. A blinding one, but so spellbindingly beautiful that he couldn’t look away. He saw himself then, his own body being swarmed by doctors and nurses. All of the pain he’d been enduring in his older years dissipated and his skin wasn’t all wrinkles anymore. He felt his head, atop it was a full head of black hair. 

“Where am I?” He asked, but he wasn’t sure who he was asking. 

He heard a voice, a small cry, a distant moan of his own name. 

“Katara!” Before he could think, Katara, youthful and beautiful, found him and tackled him to the ground. Suddenly a field of greenery and flowers surrounded them. A haven. 

She propped herself up on her elbows and looked into his eyes. “It took you so long to get here...I thought you’d passed on into the spirit world and I wouldn’t have a chance to see you, but I waited.” He placed his hand on her cheek. “I’ll always wait.” 

Zuko smiled at her. For the first time in years, he smiled. There were tears in her eyes, and a smile on her face. Just like the teary smile she’d given him at the Agni Kai a lifetime ago. “Can we try again?” He asked. 

Instead of answering his question, her lips pressed against his, parting them. She tasted sweet; like fresh melon juice in the heat of summer. He wrapped an arm around her back and sat up, her legs wrapped around his torso, and returned her kiss, not letting anything stop him. He felt warmth in his face and the rest of his body as he continued to kiss her, making sure nothing could tear them apart. He broke away for just a second, to admire how beautiful she was. She looked exactly as she had the night of their first kiss so many years ago. He brought his lips to her once more, for a gentler, more tender kiss, before taking her hand in his and interlacing their fingers together. They made their way deeper into the grassy glade, letting the sounds and smells of nature rush over them, forgetting the past, and savoring the moments they had in the afterlife. 

**Author's Note:**

> this was..not fun to write i am Very Sad right now KDBDJ this was meant to be for zutara week but i’m just gonna retag it when the time comes bc i want to publish it now


End file.
